Ether’s (ETH) performance over the past week has been nothing short of exceptional. The price rallied from a $905 low on Jan. 11 to a new all-time high at $1,440 on Jan. 19. According to Cointelegraph, the main reasons fueling this move are the growth of decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols as the total value locked reached $24 billion, Ethereum daily transactions surpassing 1.2 million and Bitcoin (BTC) price consolidating below $40,000. Nevertheless, the latest leg of Ether’s rally on Jan. 19 presented a different dynamic from the previous breakouts. A much use of derivatives leverage has been deployed this time …

Over the past two months the open interest on Bitcoin options has held reasonably steady even as the figure increased by 118% to reach $8.4 billion as (BTC) price rose to a new all-time high. The result of Bitcoin’s price appreciation and the rising open interest on BTC options has resulted in a historic $3.8 billion expiry set for Jan. 29. To understand the potential impact of such a large expiry, investors should compare it to the volumes seen at spot exchanges. Although some data aggregators display over $50 billion to $100 billion in daily Bitcoin volume, a 2019 report …

As a result of the ongoing uptrend, many prominent institutions from the realm of traditional finance have sought to join the crypto bandwagon so as to not miss out on the ongoing action. For starters, a jump in open interest and trading volume for Bitcoin futures has been witnessed across the board over the course of the last couple of months. While that may have been expected, what may come as a surprise is that the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, a global derivatives exchange, recently became the world’s largest Bitcoin futures trading platform. In this regard, data released by crypto analytics …

It has stated a variety of reasons for why the products cannot be “reliably valued” by retail consumers, such as financial crime, volatility and an inadequate understanding of crypto assets being the main ones. It was estimated that retail investors will save $53 million due to this ban. This is despite the FCA releasing a research stating that U.K. consumers have invested an estimated $2.6 million in crypto assets. Although the main intention of this ban is to protect retail investors from the complexity of these products, the assumption that retail investors in the U.K. have an inadequate understanding of …

In the short term, the crucial technical resistance level is $35,500. Throughout the past 24 hours, Bitcoin has continuously rejected at that level. When Bitcoin rose to around $35,500 on Binance earlier on Jan. 13, it saw an 8% drop shortly thereafter, indicating that there is strong selling pressure. A pseudonymous trader known as “Byzantine General” outlined that there are additional sell orders on Coinbase in the $36,500–$37,000 range, saying “I’m still not taking bets” and adding that he is “casually buying dips with spot.” There is significant uncertainty in the market due to the large price swings between $31,000 …

Canadian investment fund manager Arxnovum Investments has filed a prospectus for a new Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund, or ETF, in Canada. On Monday, the company filed a stack of preliminary documents for the Arxnovum Bitcoin ETF with Canada’s Ontario Securities Commission. According to a preliminary long-form prospectus, Arxnovum plans to list its new Bitcoin ETF on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The listing is subject to the approval of the TSX in accordance with its original listing requirements. “The TSX has not conditionally approved the listing application of the Bitcoin ETF and there is no assurance that the TSX will approve …

This week’s $11,000 drop occurred in just 32 hours and this definitely an important milestone for Bitcoin (BTC) price. Many mainstream media outlets perceived the correction as the start of a new bear market but data simply does not support this line of thinking. Bitcoin price may have corrected 26.5% as if dropped to retest the $30,300 support but it has since shown significant strength amidst a record-high $160 billion in derivatives volume. Spot exchanges also outpaced their previous record high that was set just three days ago on Jan.9 as BTC soared to a new all-time high at $41,950. …

After Bitcoin (BTC) price flirted with a $42,000 all-time high on Jan. 8, it stabilized in a tightening range between $39,000 to $41,500 for two days and the pennant structure on the shorter-term timeframes hinted that a breakout to $45,000 was a possibility. This all changed quite suddenly Jan. 10 as the $39,000 support failed to hold and Bitcoin price entered a steep correction. A swirling and cruel 26.6% drop took BTC down to $30,100 over the next 30 hours and $1.5 billion in cascading liquidations at derivatives exchanges boosted the correction. Interestingly, this occurred just as the open interest …

The past week has been an emotional rollercoaster for Ether (ETH) traders, as there were seven four-hour candles of a 10% or larger price movement. Furthermore, the most recent 30% drop to $920 triggered $550 million in liquidations on long futures contracts. To complicate things even further, this current price correction is taking place just four weeks ahead of the launch of CME's ETH futures. It’s possible that even the most bullish Ether traders did not expect an 85% rally to occur in just eight days. During that short timespan, the top-ranked altcoin blasted through the $800 resistance and quickly …

Equos, a Singapore-based digital currency exchange operated by Diginex, has announced the launch of a new Bitcoin (BTC) futures product without any settlement dates, marking a substantial leap in the BTC derivatives market. The firm introduced the BTC Perpetual Futures Contract on Thursday, a product it says is “well suited to the current trading environment.” The perpetual contract is geared toward professional traders with various risk profiles, with prices and liquidity provided by independent market makers. The exchange claims that its new BTC contract is backstopped by its liquidity reserves, which are partially funded through fees and trading revenue. Unlike …

On Wednesday, the decision by the United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority to ban crypto futures and exchange-traded notes finally went into effect. The FCA initially announced the ban back in October 2020 following a year-long consideration of the matter. At the time, the FCA argued that crypto derivatives were ill-suited to retail investors who were at risk of incurring significant losses. Commenting on the decision as the ban went into effect on Wednesday, Ian Taylor, chair of the self-regulatory trade group CryptoUK, told Cointelegraph: “The regulator is clearly focused on consumer protection, and rightfully so. Derivatives allow for leverage — …

Bitcoin (BTC) recently reclaimed $35,000, but top traders at Huobi, OKEx and Binance are not buying the breakout. Unlike the savvy institutional investors who may be desperate for protection against the debasement of fiat, the more crypto-focused investors seem to be waiting for dips. Institutional investors might also be celebrating the Jan. 4 announcement that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency will allow banks to include stablecoins in bank-permissible functions. This further validates the crypto sector and may result in a rise in institutional participation in the space. Typically, after a new all-time high is achieved, Bitcoin price …